UFC Vegas: Waterson vs Rodriguez - May 8 ??

[wandshogun09]

Fighters looking like death warmed up on the scales seems to be becoming an even more regular occurrence lately. 

His fight with Zarrukh Adashev is off now from what I’m reading. 

[Egg Shen]

its insane that they even allow them to step on the scales in that kind of state

[wandshogun09]

Fuck me, Ferreira’s missed weight badly as well.

Fair play to Gillespie for going ahead with it. Suppose he just wants back in there now after so long out and then the delays to his return earlier this year. Getting 30% of Ferreira’s purse doesn’t hurt either, not that it probably amounts to much. 

[Panhead]

1 hour ago, Egg Shen said:

its insane that they even allow them to step on the scales in that kind of state

I'm not a fighter and I 100% don't have a fighter's mindset, but I just always wonder, what is the fucking point? Move up a weight class. There must be a ton of fighters that feel absolutely shite, even by the time they step in the Octagon. 

[Egg Shen]

Its probably do with the massive gaps between the weight classes. You either are the big fish in the small pond, or the small fish in the big pond. Most fighters wanna be the big fish.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah he probably feels like if he moves up to 135, he’ll be too small to hang with the guys who cut down from 160 or whatever. It’s a vicious cycle. But it’s not like he’s been setting the world alight at Flyweight. At some point you’re doing more harm than good, leaving too much in the sauna and any edge you would’ve had from being bigger after replenishing is lost because you’ve absolutely drained yourself all week.

Moving up isn’t always ideal for everyone but for some it does wonders. Maybe the best recent example of that is Michael Chiesa. He was going nowhere fast at 155. Not a jobber or anything, he had some nice wins, but he was never gonna be more than a middle of the pack also ran. He missed weight for his last fight at 155, lost the fight then moved up to 170. He’s gone 4-0 since with really impressive wins over Rafael Dos Anjos and Neil Magny in his last two and he’s now at the point where Usman’s name-dropping him as a potential challenger. Quite a turnaround. And just physically, you look at Chiesa at Welterweight now and wonder how he made Lightweight so long. He’s looked every bit as big as the Welters he’s been facing, or bigger, and has been able to impose his grappling really well which you don’t always see from a ground based fighter moving up a division. I don’t see him beating the Usmans and Covingtons of the world but Chiesa at 170 is legit, make no mistake. 

And here he is weighing in in his 155 days; 

Edited May 7, 2021 by wandshogun09

[wandshogun09]

My picks;

Not sure on the main event though. I’d favour Rodriguez because of her size and striking but If the late notice is going to effect anyone, I think it’ll be her. From what I read she had a bit of a nightmare even making it to Vegas, only got her Visa on Wednesday and then had to travel for 20 hours before finally arriving. Credit to her for still making weight under all that stress but I wonder if there’ll be a price to pay if the fight goes long.

A lot of the fights are near coin flips for me here. Got a feeling Neal catches Magny but he could just as easily get outworked. Ferreira vs Gillespie is close to 50-50 too but with Ferreira missing weight so badly I’m thinking he might be carrying an injury. Then again, the layoff could hamper Gillespie. I think Ribas should beat Hill but she’s coming off that knockout loss to Rodriguez so who knows how she’ll look here? It’s an interesting set of matchups. Phil Hawes, Ludovit Klein and Tafon Nchukwi are all worth checking out the prelims for as well. The card definitely took a big blow losing Sandhagen vs Dillashaw but it’s still actually pretty solid top to bottom. 

[Egg Shen]

 

[wandshogun09]

Can’t they just start the card now before the rest of the fights fall to bits? Jesus wept. 

[neil]

Jun Yong Park has an extremely obvious staph infection on his chest, how on earth do they clear that shit

[neil]

The lack of responses to this card says it all

[wandshogun09]

It had its moments but it wasn’t the best. Of the 9 fights that survived all the pullouts, most of them went the distance and were very skippable. The lack of response is probably partly that but mostly down to this show falling on the same night as Canelo vs Saunders though.

Gillespie vs Ferreira was quality though. Definitely the pick of the bunch and deserving FOTN. Really enjoyable Wrestling vs BJJ battle with a ton of cool scrambles and grappling transitions. Gillespie looked absolutely knackered after the high pace first round but he came out sharp in the second. 

He put a right beating on Ferreira once he established the mount. Sad to see Ferreira drop another loss, especially with the added grey cloud hanging over him with the weight miss. Missing weight and then losing always puts you on the chopping block, wouldn’t be shocked if they cut him but I hope not. Gillespie couldn’t have asked for a better return really. Especially after all the time away after that Kevin Lee knockout. He comes back, beats Ferreira in a cracking fight, gets 30% of Ferreira’s purse because of the weight miss, then gets both his and Ferreira’s FOTN bonus because of Ferreira’s weight miss making him ineligible. Not a bad night’s work.

Nothing else really worth going out of your way to see. Rodriguez vs Waterson was decent enough. Especially factoring in the ridiculously short notice and the messed up week Rodriguez had in particular just making it to Vegas. She looked pretty good. 

I think they need to stop putting Waterson in these 5 round main events though. For the obvious reason that she doesn’t really warrant that spot but also she’s taking a lot of punishment. This wasn’t as rough on her as the Jedrzejczyk fight but she seems to be thrown into these gruelling 25 minute fights every 6 months and it rarely works out for her. I still expect her to headline next time though. Her and Holly Holm will be in main events no-one asked for long after we’re all dead and gone.

Morono vs Cerrone was over quick. Saw the other day Cerrone was doing his usual ‘I don’t know who Morono is’ thing again. He never learns, does he? 

This was pretty sweet, to be honest. Cerrone’s a bit of a dick. Quite telling though that he’s getting done in a round by a guy like this. Morono’s alright but he’s nothing special. It’s one thing getting beat by the likes of McGregor, Gaethje and Ferguson. When you start getting swarmed and bashed up by guys like this the writing’s on the wall. Saw him saying he wants to go back to 155 now, clearly just trying to extend his UFC stint and hoping they give him another fresh start at Lightweight. It’s not gonna end well though. He’s not going to last long in those shark infested waters and I can’t even really think of any fellow fading names he can be thrown in with. He had the Pettis rematch last year, what’s left? He’s probably gonna get fed to some killer they’re looking to build up. 

Rest was fast forward material.

[Egg Shen]

Rough night for Cowboy. Outside of the Niko Price draw (which he only got cause of a point deduction) Cowboy has lost 5 straight. The decline seems pretty rapid. Im sure he'll get a proper send off type fight but the end is surely nigh, Morono hammered him.

Other highlight as wand stated was the Gillespie fight. That deserved to be in front of an audience, hell of a come from behind win. If you cant put Gillespie out with strikes i cant see many outlasting him.

[wandshogun09]

19 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

Cowboy has lost 5 straight. The decline seems pretty rapid. Im sure he'll get a proper send off type fight 

[Egg Shen]

?